Manhattan Property Owner’s Duty of Safety for Visitors and Tenants

A property owner has a duty to take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of visitors and tenants. This requirement applies to owners and managers of all types of properties, including residential, commercial, private, public, and industrial properties. The key term in this definition is “reasonable,” which can be open to some argument based on the details of each individual premises liability case. You should work with our Manhattan premises liability lawyers who can argue that the property owner did not act reasonably when looking for or addressing hazards on their property that could hurt visitors or tenants.

Importantly, New York law does not make a clear distinction between a typical visitor and a trespasser, as many other states do. In New York, a trespasser has the same right to sue for compensation if they are hurt by a property hazard that reasonably should not have been there had the property owner been more diligent and responsible.

Elements of a Manhattan Premises Liability Claim

Every premises liability claim will depend on the plaintiff’s ability to prove that the property owner or manager was negligent. As with all personal injury claims, negligence depends on several key elements in a premises liability claim.

The four key elements to prove negligence are:

• Duty of care: The defendant must have owed a duty of care to the plaintiff. Did the property owner owe you a safe space without hazards? Typically, the answer is ‘yes’ by default but you’ll still need to prove it.
• Breach: The defendant must have breached or failed to uphold the duty of care owed to you as a visitor. For example, if a grocery store did not put a wet floor warning sign after cleaning up a spill and you slipped, then it could be argued that the defendant breached that duty.
• Causation: There must be a provable connection between the plaintiff’s injuries and the defendant’s breach of duty. Evidence and arguments from an attorney can be used to confidently prove causation.
• Damages: Lastly, the plaintiff must have suffered damages due to the defendant’s mistakes. Damages can take many forms, so this element of a premises liability is generally considered the easiest to establish. However, the exact amount of damages can be difficult to calculate and prove, especially without an attorney’s help.

Economic & Non-Economic Damages in Your Claim

Our Manhattan premises liability attorneys don’t fight for anything less than the maximum amount of compensation that we can secure for a client. We will use our decades of experience to help you build a strong claim and determine the fair and reasonable amount of each and every type of damage you sustained.

Damages in a premises liability claim are usually separated into two categories:

• Economic: Tangible fiscal losses like lost wages, medical expenses, and property damage costs.
• Non-economic: Intangible losses like pain, suffering, and lessened enjoyment of life.

In rare cases, a court might approve punitive damages to punish the defendant for unforgivable negligence. For example, a jury might award punitive damages against a bar or restaurant for continuing to serve alcohol to an intoxicated patron who then drove drunk and struck and killed a pedestrian.

Discuss Your Options – Call Our Firm Today

After a serious premises liability accident, you can be confident that the premises liability lawyers at Dansker & Aspromonte Associates, LLP will help you recover what you deserve. Your fight if our fight. Your goals are our own. Let us stand by your side and lead the way in this difficult time.

Contact us online. To talk directly with someone from our firm, dial (212) 732-2929 now.